34. Peart was distancing himself from Rand long before his loss

I deliberately ignored Rush in the mid-late 80's keyboard phase, but their work in the early 90s clearly indicates compassion. Many songs deal with social injustice, and the entire concept of the "Roll the Bones" album was the role of luck - good and bad - in shaping destiny. From Test for Echo, "Half the World" is about social injustice. From Snakes and Arrows, "The Larger Bowl". There are many other examples in the Rush cannon.

***

Lyrics from the song "Roll the Bones"

Well, you can stake that claim --
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame
If they don't take that game
And sometimes the winner takes nothing
We draw our own designs
But fortune has to make that frame

We go out in the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones ...

Faith is cold as ice --
Why are little ones born only to suffer
For the want of immunity
Or a bowl of rice? Well, who would hold a price
On the heads of the innocent children
If there's some immortal power
To control the dice?

We come in to the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstancesThat's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones

Ayn Rand would have shrugged - convulsed in horror - at the suggestion that "Fate is just the weight of circumstances".